Feed-chute.



P. F. MALARKEY.

FEED CHUTE.

APPLICATION FILED IULY6. 1915.

Patented July 18, 1916.

r I O Attorneys along will be IPA'IJLIEtICK F. MALARKEY, OF MOUNTCARMEL, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO ELM'ER E. 'STBAUB, 0FMOUNT CARMEL, PENNSYLVANIA.

FEED-CHUTE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July is, 1916.

Application filed. July 6, 191-5. Serial No. 38,379.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PATRICK F. MA- LARKEY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Mount Carmel, in the county ofNorthumberland and State of Pennsylvania,

have invented a new and useful Feed-Chute,

of the separator. This has resulted inconsiderable breakage of the coaland conse quent deterioration in value.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a feed chutehaving means whereby the body of coal gravitating theredivided into aplurality of streams superposed relative to each other so as thus toflow directly onto the superposed shelves or tiers of the separatorwithout requiring any drop which might shatter the coal in its progress.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it' being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the in vention herein disclosed, can be made within thescope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings :Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a chuteembodying the present improvements. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof.Fig. 3 is a section on line A-B Fig. 1 I

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates themain portion of the chute, the same having the usual upstanding sides 2.The lower end of the main chute is provided with a series of tongues 3extending partly thereacross. In the pres ent instance three of thesetongues'have been shown inasmuch as the body of coal gravitating alongthe chute 1 is adapted to be divlded into three parts, but it is to beunderstood that where the body of coal is to be divided into fewer partsor into a greater number of parts, the number of tongues 3 W111 bereduced or increased accordingly. The tongues 3 may be made by cuttinginclslons longitudinally in the bottom of the main trough 1, the innerends of the tongues being disposed along a, line extending diagonallyacross the trough, while the outer ends of the tongues are rounded asshown at 4c. The tongues are bent at angles to the inclined chute 1 soas to lie in stepped relation.

The uppermost tongue 3 which is located at one side oft-he discharge endof the chute 1 is secured to and forms a part of the bottom of one ofthe series of discharge chutes main chute 1 and thus it will be seenthatwhen a body of coal is flowing along the main chute 1, a portionthereof will be divided from the rest by the curved deflecting portion 8of the wall 7' and thus be directed into the upper delivery chute 5. Theintermediate tongue 3 is secured on and forms a part of thebottom of anintermediate side delivery chute 9 similar to the chute 5 and extendingthereunder, this chute 9 having upstanding side walls 10 and 11, thewall 11 merging into an arcuate deflecting end 12 corresponding with thedeflecting wall 8 and extending up to the inner end of the tongue 3supporting it. Thus it will be seen that that portion of the body ofcoal passing between the Wall 8 and the remote side of the chute 1 willbe divided, a portion thereof being deflected onto the chute 9 by thedeflecting wall 12. The lowermost tongue 3 is secured to and forms apart of the bottom of the lower side delivery chute 1.3 which extendsunder the chutes 5 and 9 and has upstanding side walls'14: and 15. Theside wall 15 merges into an arcuate defleeting wall 16 which extendsfrom one side wall 2 of the chute 1. Thus it will be does not enter thechute 9 will flow downwardly and be deflected into chute 13 by the wall16.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that as a body ofcoal is moving downwardly along the chute 1 it will be divided intoseparate streams, these streams flowing into the superposed sidedelivery chutes 5, 9 and 13 and as the discharge ends of these chutesare secured to or rest upon the superposed shelves or tiers of aseparator, it will be obvious that coal can pass freely from the mainchute 1 to the separator without falling at any point and, consequently,breakage will be practically eliminated.

Although a specific construction of chute has been shown and described,it is to be understood that this construction may be varied at willprovided side delivery chutes are mounted in the desired relation to themain chute whereby as a body of coal moves down- Wardly along the mainchute, it will be divided into separate streams, which streams will bedeflected laterally insuperposed relation. Although only three sidedelivery chutes have been shown combined with the main chute, it is tobe understood that this number may be increased or diminished asdesired. I

What is claimed is A feed chute for coal separators, including a mainchute having tongues extending from the discharge end thereof, saidtongues being disposed in stepped relation and each having a curvedside, side delivery chutes having their bottoms secured to therespective tongues, upstanding walls upon the re spective side deliverychutes, one of said Walls constituting a deflector and being extendedpartly across the main chute and along the curved edge of the tongue towhich the side delivery chute is secured, all of the side deliverychutes being disposed in superposed relation and having their bottomsconstituting continuations of the bottom of the main chute.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my oWn, I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

PATRICK F. MALARKEY. Witnesses:

JEFFERSON SHIPMAN, JOHN M. HUBER.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

